Pupils in maintained schools aged 5-15 eligible for free school meals by local authority and year

Standard shorthand is used in this table: [t] = total.

Data values	Data description	Year	Local Authority	Category
3,620	Number of pupils	2003/04	Bridgend	Eligible for free school meals
16.3	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Pembrokeshire	Eligible for free school meals
22.9	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Newport	Eligible for free school meals
41,849	Number of pupils	2003/04	Cardiff	All pupils
10,874	Number of pupils	2003/04	Monmouthshire	All pupils
9,711	Number of pupils	2003/04	Blaenau Gwent	All pupils
23.1	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Neath Port Talbot	Eligible for free school meals
11.0	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Monmouthshire	Eligible for free school meals
14,381	Number of pupils	2003/04	Conwy	All pupils
29,906	Number of pupils	2003/04	Swansea	All pupils
6,879	Number of pupils	2003/04	Swansea	Eligible for free school meals
23,072	Number of pupils	2003/04	Carmarthenshire	All pupils
3,918	Number of pupils	2003/04	Carmarthenshire	Eligible for free school meals
15,861	Number of pupils	2003/04	Pembrokeshire	All pupils
14.0	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Gwynedd	Eligible for free school meals
23.0	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Swansea	Eligible for free school meals
24.8	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Rhondda Cynon Taf	Eligible for free school meals
20.5	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Torfaen	Eligible for free school meals
23.3	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Cardiff	Eligible for free school meals
16,057	Number of pupils	2003/04	Wrexham	All pupils
2,442	Number of pupils	2003/04	Wrexham	Eligible for free school meals
77,073 [t]	Number of pupils	2003/04	Wales	Eligible for free school meals
10.1	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Powys	Eligible for free school meals
9,757	Number of pupils	2003/04	Cardiff	Eligible for free school meals
20,413	Number of pupils	2003/04	Newport	All pupils
4,677	Number of pupils	2003/04	Newport	Eligible for free school meals
1,979	Number of pupils	2003/04	Denbighshire	Eligible for free school meals
1,191	Number of pupils	2003/04	Monmouthshire	Eligible for free school meals
14,388	Number of pupils	2003/04	Torfaen	All pupils
2,949	Number of pupils	2003/04	Torfaen	Eligible for free school meals
13,757	Number of pupils	2003/04	Denbighshire	All pupils
1,741	Number of pupils	2003/04	Isle of Anglesey	Eligible for free school meals
12.7	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Ceredigion	Eligible for free school meals
17.0	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Carmarthenshire	Eligible for free school meals
2,620	Number of pupils	2003/04	Flintshire	Eligible for free school meals
12.1	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Vale of Glamorgan	Eligible for free school meals
29.0	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Merthyr Tydfil	Eligible for free school meals
25.1	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Blaenau Gwent	Eligible for free school meals
20,668	Number of pupils	2003/04	Flintshire	All pupils
19.8	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Isle of Anglesey	Eligible for free school meals
19.0 [t]	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Wales	Eligible for free school meals
12.7	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Flintshire	Eligible for free school meals
2,300	Number of pupils	2003/04	Conwy	Eligible for free school meals
4,410	Number of pupils	2003/04	Neath Port Talbot	Eligible for free school meals
404,809 [t]	Number of pupils	2003/04	Wales	All pupils
19,085	Number of pupils	2003/04	Neath Port Talbot	All pupils
16.0	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Conwy	Eligible for free school meals
15.2	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Wrexham	Eligible for free school meals
14.4	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Denbighshire	Eligible for free school meals
2,162	Number of pupils	2003/04	Gwynedd	Eligible for free school meals
18,630	Number of pupils	2003/04	Bridgend	All pupils
1,754	Number of pupils	2003/04	Powys	Eligible for free school meals
2,163	Number of pupils	2003/04	Vale of Glamorgan	Eligible for free school meals
8,779	Number of pupils	2003/04	Isle of Anglesey	All pupils
17,880	Number of pupils	2003/04	Vale of Glamorgan	All pupils
17,357	Number of pupils	2003/04	Powys	All pupils
8,407	Number of pupils	2003/04	Rhondda Cynon Taf	Eligible for free school meals
21.5	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Caerphilly	Eligible for free school meals
33,836	Number of pupils	2003/04	Rhondda Cynon Taf	All pupils
1,104	Number of pupils	2003/04	Ceredigion	Eligible for free school meals
2,419	Number of pupils	2003/04	Merthyr Tydfil	Eligible for free school meals
19.4	Percentage of pupils	2003/04	Bridgend	Eligible for free school meals
8,334	Number of pupils	2003/04	Merthyr Tydfil	All pupils
8,692	Number of pupils	2003/04	Ceredigion	All pupils
5,560	Number of pupils	2003/04	Caerphilly	Eligible for free school meals
15,476	Number of pupils	2003/04	Gwynedd	All pupils
25,803	Number of pupils	2003/04	Caerphilly	All pupils
2,582	Number of pupils	2003/04	Pembrokeshire	Eligible for free school meals
2,439	Number of pupils	2003/04	Blaenau Gwent	Eligible for free school meals
2,449	Number of pupils	2004/05	Pembrokeshire	Eligible for free school meals
8,580	Number of pupils	2004/05	Ceredigion	All pupils
993	Number of pupils	2004/05	Ceredigion	Eligible for free school meals
17,276	Number of pupils	2004/05	Powys	All pupils
1,725	Number of pupils	2004/05	Powys	Eligible for free school meals
16,034	Number of pupils	2004/05	Wrexham	All pupils
2,476	Number of pupils	2004/05	Wrexham	Eligible for free school meals
20,404	Number of pupils	2004/05	Flintshire	All pupils
2,547	Number of pupils	2004/05	Flintshire	Eligible for free school meals
13,772	Number of pupils	2004/05	Denbighshire	All pupils
1,780	Number of pupils	2004/05	Denbighshire	Eligible for free school meals
14,199	Number of pupils	2004/05	Conwy	All pupils
2,162	Number of pupils	2004/05	Conwy	Eligible for free school meals
1,998	Number of pupils	2004/05	Gwynedd	Eligible for free school meals
8,643	Number of pupils	2004/05	Isle of Anglesey	All pupils
15,339	Number of pupils	2004/05	Gwynedd	All pupils
25,336	Number of pupils	2004/05	Caerphilly	All pupils
400,078 [t]	Number of pupils	2004/05	Wales	All pupils
15,772	Number of pupils	2004/05	Pembrokeshire	All pupils
73,587 [t]	Number of pupils	2004/05	Wales	Eligible for free school meals
41,136	Number of pupils	2004/05	Cardiff	All pupils
9,100	Number of pupils	2004/05	Cardiff	Eligible for free school meals
1,607	Number of pupils	2004/05	Isle of Anglesey	Eligible for free school meals
4,594	Number of pupils	2004/05	Newport	Eligible for free school meals
20,193	Number of pupils	2004/05	Newport	All pupils
10,775	Number of pupils	2004/05	Monmouthshire	All pupils
1,136	Number of pupils	2004/05	Monmouthshire	Eligible for free school meals
14,171	Number of pupils	2004/05	Torfaen	All pupils
2,710	Number of pupils	2004/05	Torfaen	Eligible for free school meals
9,566	Number of pupils	2004/05	Blaenau Gwent	All pupils
2,460	Number of pupils	2004/05	Blaenau Gwent	Eligible for free school meals

Showing 1 to 100 of 1,679 rows

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Main information

• Most recent update: 24 September 2025
• Next update expected: July 2026
• Designation: Official statistics
• Data provider: Welsh Government
• Data source: Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC)
• Time period covered: September 2003 to August 2025

Data notes

Overview

• Summary of dataset and variables:

  Data from the annual School Census which collects information on schools, pupils, classes, ethnicity, free school meal eligibility, additional learning needs and special educational needs.

• Data collection or calculation:

  The data in this report is collected by the Welsh Government from local authority maintained schools in a return called the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC). PLASC is an electronic collection of pupil and school level data. Schools record data on pupils and the school throughout the year in their Management Information System (MIS) software. This data is collated into an electronic PLASC return and submitted to the Welsh Government through DEWI, a secure online data transfer system developed by the Welsh Government. Various stages of automated validation and sense-checking are built into the process to ensure a high quality of data to inform policy making and funding.

• Statistical quality:

  The returns are authorised by headteachers and validated by local authorities.

  The school census date is usually in January. Due to the level of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in January 2022, the 2022 census date was delayed to 15 February 2022. School closures between December 2020 and March 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic meant that the 2021 census date was delayed to 20 April 2021.

  Pupils are eligible for free school meals if their parents or guardians are in receipt of certain means-tested benefits or support payments. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may have impacted on the quality of this data and may have resulted in over recording of this data in 2020 to 2022. These figures do not include pupils who only receive free schools meal due to the universal primary free school meal policy.

• Related reports:
  • Schools' census results

Published by

• Organisation: Welsh Government
• Contact email: school.stats@gov.wales

Metadata

The metadata for this dataset is not included when you download the data. You can download this separately. This contains all the information from the 'About this dataset' tab.